Blood Ties
by NekoXMimi
Summary: Mute leaves behind her new life in Forks to help Blade... but after the blood and the betrayals they have faced, will their bond still run deep? Spoilers, violence and swearing. You love it. Sequel to Thicker Than Water.
1. Chapter 1

Blade shakes his head as Whistler's eyes turn sorrowful.

"I see you alone, surrounded by enemies. And it breaks my heart."

"I have Mute." Blade murmurs. Whistler sighs.

"She ain't comin' back, Blade, and you know it."

"You said it, not me." Blade doesn't raise his voice, but his voice commands finality on the matter. There's a small rumble, the sound of an engine outside.

"What is it?" Whistler asks.

*

I tracked them, followed the trail and now here I am.

Home.

No, not home. It isn't my home anymore. I watch the huge warehouse squatting on top of the dirty water. I can't help but feel a pull, even though I've never been here before I'm drawn to it. Even though it's been so long, I've got so accustomed to following him like a lost dog it's almost automatic. The engine dies and I kick the stand out on my motorbike. He's probably heard me, if this is the right place. Shut up, you know it's the right place. Stop stalling.

I shiver in my hoodie and jeans, wishing I had a decent riding jacket. There is a huge, portcullis-like gate in front of me. I can see inside the whole warehouse. A shape appears on the other side, moving towards the door at the side.

It's Whistler.

"Mute?" He opens the door and looks at me like he's never seen me before. He looks so much more tired than I remember him. But that's ok- I bet I look worse. I walk unsteadily towards him.

"How's the leg?" I ask shakily. He tuts and pulls me into a hug.

"Glad to have you back, kiddo." He chuckles.

Blade appears behind Whistler. Whistler senses the tension and mutters an excuse. He goes back inside, leaving Blade and I standing alone, facing each other.

"Long time no see, you lying bastard." I whisper. For a split second I see Blade's face crumple slightly, but he reverts back to an expressionless mask.

"If I'm a lying bastard, why are you here?"

"If you don't want me, I'll leave." That seems to piss him off a bit.

"For a year and three months I've wondered what the hell has happened, convinced you were dead."

"Fair exchange for making me believe the person I loved was dead."

"Where is he?" Blade demands.

"Safe from _you."_ I snarl. "He's my responsibility now, not yours. Why did you do it?"

"I don't have to justify myself to you, of all people. Besides, I didn't think he'd _survive._" Finally I snap and throw a punch. Usually he'd block it, but I was fast and he was taken by surprise. It doesn't do much except for hurt my hand, but it causes Blade to snarl and shove me.

"Come on then." I hiss, hand heading for my sword.

"I'm not going to fight you, you stupid motherfucker." Blade says angrily.

"Draw your sword."

"No."

"DO IT, DAMMIT!" I sheath my sword and put my fists up instead. "Come ON!" I yelled, thumping him. "Fight me!" To my horror, I'm beginning to cry. I stand still for a moment, head down.

"Mute?"

"I just don't understand anything." I whisper. I feel an awkward hand on my shoulder.

Jeez. I must be a pitiful mess- Blade's showing affection.

"Get in here, you goddamn hopeless cases." Whistler huffs from the door. I wipe the offending tears away quickly and wheel my motorbike into the new warehouse. I look around, feeling as if there's something missing. Then I realise what it is- the smell of dope and the sound of crappy rap music. I wince at the memory.

I leave my bike against a wall and Whistler claps me on the shoulder.

"So, are yea' stayin' or-"

"Shh!" I say suddenly. The faint sound of an engine reaches my ears.

It's close.

"Now what the hell is that?" Whistler asks Blade. Blade suddenly looks tired.

"What you were worried about."


	2. Chapter 2

There is a sudden bang.

"It's the authorities. Blade killed a human; someone ID'd him, now we're in trouble. Get out of here." Whistler tells me as the portcullis comes down and windows smash.

"You didn't really expect me to bugger off, did you?"

"No I didn't, you damn whippersnapper. Make yourself useful, hold them off while I destroy the data!" Whistler orders. Blade is already gone. He limps off, and I hide while the humans pour in. I leap out of my hiding place, a challenging cry on my lips. I take the first one out with a blow to the head, the second I send tumbling into the water, but they just kept coming. Without killing them I have a hard time fighting them off. It goes on for what seems like forever until a bullet tears into my ribs and I fall to the floor, gasping. They try to grab me.

Without another choice I grab my handgun and shoot them back. Their ranks stagger back as I keep firing.

"Eat shit!" I scream. I look around as Blade comes towards me, cutting a swathe through the men. I follow him. We fight back-to-back, perfectly in sync. Just like old times.

Suddenly, there is a yell. It's Whistler.

"Get out, Blade!"

An explosion sends Blade and I tumbling from the warehouse. A wall of heat washes over us as we fell to the floor. It dies down almost instantly. I leap to my feet, yelling Whistler's name. I sprint into the warehouse. There are flames and frazzled bodies all around. I cough, the smoke making me dizzy. Desperate, I search and search until I found him. One side of his face is peaceful and whole, eye closed, as if he were sleeping. The other…

Choking on a mixture of heat and scorching tears I pick him up. The night air washes over me as I carry the body out and lay it on the ground. On my knees I scream at the sky.

"Mute!" Yells Blade. I don't respond, so completely consumed with grief. Another heartbeat leaves me. How much pain can one person withstand?

A sharp pain stabs into my neck, a needle. Hands grab me. I slowly slip into darkness, falling to the floor beside Whistler. The last thing I see is the untouched side of his face, peaceful and blank.

I've failed again.

Tears evade me as I stare at the door of my cell. I keep my whole body tucked in tight, knees up to my chin. There is a tight pain in the very core of me, like an elastic band around my soul. I don't know how it's ever going to go away.

The cell opens. I ignore the mousy-looking, bespectacled man until he sits in front of me. Then I stare at him. I see myself reflected in his glasses. I see an empty girl, hollowed out.

"I've just been speaking to Blade. I'm doctor Vance, a psychologist." He says, a false kindness in his voice. It irritates me. "I'm under the impression you were under his 'command' in some way?" He fidgets under my silent stare. "I don't want you to feel like you have any need to be loyal to him. You're safe now. Just tell me… was he… _abusive?" _I stare at him, cocking my head on one side just to freak him out. He's taking the piss.

He leans forward a little. "You know, sometimes, a person can become emotionally attached to their abuser. I just want you to know that he can't hurt anyone anymore."

"No… but I can." I say suddenly. My foot crunches into his crotch with satisfying force. He crumples to the floor. I try to run past him, but the door opens again and I literally run straight into a huge, hulking vampire. _Bloody hell,_ I think as he grabs me by the throat and slams me into the wall. A female walks in with stupid beehive black hair.

"We told you not to underestimate the girl." She drawls as the "psychologist" scrambles away.

"Danica Talos, you psychotic, parasitic bitch." I hiss.

"You've heard of me, then." Talos smiles. I snarl and show my teeth. Whore.

"She's all yours, Karl." Another burly vamp appears behind her. The big chump who has me pinned complains but eventually drops me and leaves with Talos. Only for me to be kicked against the wall by "Karl." He reaches down and grabs my hair, pulling my head back and plunging his teeth into my neck.

Ewwwww, gross! I twist my thumb inside his eye. He howls and flails backwards, lashing out with clumsy fists. I grab his short black hair and bring his face down and my knee up. His nose explodes, but he grabs a knife from his belt and stabs me in the stomach. Not deep, but deep enough to hurt like fuck. I fall backwards onto my butt.

Suddenly the vampire is replaced by a cloud of ash. I cough and splutter as a familiar face takes the vampire's place.

Oh, bloody hell! Not him!

"Not you..." I groan.

"Surely you must be delirious. Yes, that's why you're not passionately thanking me for saving your skinny ass. Long time no see." Hannibal King grins and helps me to my feet. "You ok? Gooooood!" he says, pulling me from the cell. Blade waits outside, on guard. He doesn't look at me. Abby Whistler nods at me and chucks me my sword. She's so much like her dad. "Let's go." King announces.

"I agree." I nod, spinning round and punching an oncoming security guard square in the face.

We fight our way down corridors and round corners until at one corridor Blade jumps up through a hole in the ceiling.

"Hey, where is he going?" King looks annoyed. "Where the fuck is he going? This is supposed to be a rescue!"

"Well, you've rescued me. So let's go!"

Abby pulls out a sweet bow complete with high-tech arrows. Awesome. King winks at her as she knocks one and fires it. It bounces off the end of the corridor and ricochets off sideways. I hear a howl of pain.

"Sweet!"

We battle on until we sprint through the lobby and out into the night air. Police cars screech to halts in front of us.

"Ok. We're fucked." King says, defeated.

"We're fine." Abby tells him. They're like yin and yang, Abby and King. She balances him out. Why they're not a couple yet I don't know- maybe Abby's just too cool for him. He is a doofus.

A window two storeys up smashes and Blade thuds to earth beside me. He checks his sheath.

"Forgot my sword." He sighs. King shrugs and I wince. Like Blade, I'm kinda married to my sword. It's my pride and joy.

A clapped-out old van smashes through the police cars and grinds to a halt. A dark-skinned guy in scruffy clothes hangs out the window. Loud music makes the whole thing shake. I remember vaguely the man's name- Dex, I think.

"Woo! Come on!" He shouts. We run over and climb into the van. It roars off surprisingly fast.

"This is Hannibal King, and that's Abby Whistler." I decide to introduce the pair before King opens his big mouth and says something idiotic.

"Whistler's daughter." Blade says. It isn't a question.

"Err, Abby?" King says. The burly vampire from earlier is gaining on the van, fast, roaring. It looks kinda comical. Things get even funnier when Abby knocks an arrow and shoots him in the eye, sending him flying onto his ass.

"You know these punks?" Blade says to me, not bothering to keep his voice down.

"Well, when Whistler found me in London he brought me here to get equipped. I've known Abby and Big Gob there for a long time."

"You never told me."

"Neither did Whistler." I retort. That feels like a low blow but Blade knows I don't dig up the past if I can help it. Reminiscing is bad for blood pressure. I wipe some drying blood from my throat. The wounds have already closed.

"Warning, though- their base is a piece of crap." I grin, wiping a bit of blood on King.


	3. Chapter 3

Dude, this place is bad. The rusty old boat looms in front of us. Anybody with any sense would have scrapped it by now.

"I thought the vampires killed Whistler's family." Blade says to Abby.

"They did. I was born later out of wedlock. When I came of age, I tracked my dad down and told him I wanted in. Been doing it ever since."

As we board the boat, I see a little girl standing on deck. I leave the others, jump up and approach her.

"Are you Zoey? Summerfield's daughter?" I ask her. She nods shyly, peering at me from under a bobble hat.

"I'm Mute, I met you when you were just a baby. You won't remember me, obviously." I said. Wow, she's so tall. That's spun me out. I feel old.

"Mum told me about you earlier. She said you and your friend're like good vampires. That's why Abby and King rescued you." she lisps. Usually her kind of voice annoys me, but for some reason it's endearing.

"I guess she's right."

"Mute." Blade doesn't call- he orders. I decide to push my boundaries a little. Ignoring him I open my mouth to talk to Zoey again.

"Mute…"

"Oh, fine." I huff. "See you around, sprout."

"How do you bankroll this operation?" Blade asks King as we go further into the base.

"I date a lot of older men. Oh, c'mon man, I'm joking!" King exclaims as he sees Blade's face. King introduces us to the team. I know Summerfield and Dex, but there's also a new techie called Hedges.

"We call ourselves…" King looks at me to continue.

"The Nightstalkers. Lame, huh?" I say to Blade, grinning.

"Sounds like rejects from a Saturday morning cartoon." Blade sneers.

"Well, we were going to go with the care-bears, but that was taken." King says dryly. I snicker. King's jokes are a bit of a guilty pleasure. Blade shoots me a look.

"Consider us your back-up." Dex says to Blade. I wince internally- Blade won't like that.

"What, you amateurs are supposed to be helping me? Look at you. You're kids. You're not ready to roll with this- I mean, look at the way you're dressed. Is that supposed to be tactical? And what's this?" He indicates the stick-on nametag on King's chest. "'Fuck You'? You think this is a joke? What's wrong with you, you think this is a fuckin' sitcom?" I squeeze the bridge of my nose. I knew this would happen.

"First off, that's just rude. Second, I'm pretty sure we saved your asses back there." King says quietly. Blade laughs mirthlessly and holds his own throat mockingly.

"I'm impressed."

"Look, Blade. My dad meant for us to help you. Like it or not, we are all you've got." Abby butts in. Now this rubs me up the wrong way.

"Hey, what am I, invisible? He's got _me_, right? That's the way it's been for two years and we've got on fine." I snap.

"Oh yeah. Are you including the year that you ran off for?" King sneers. I move towards him, hands clenched, but Blade catches my arm firmly. I look back at him.

Blade has numerous "looks" he gives me. There's the "watch yourself, punk" look, "shut the fuck up" look, the "don't be a smart-ass" look, the "be careful you idiot" look, and the "cool it" look. This one's the "cool it" look. I lower my fists and take a deep breath.

"What makes you think you know anything about hunting vampires?" Blade demands.

"Well, for starters…" For the first time King's voice is cold. "I used to be one." He reveals a small symbol tattooed just below his navel. Lot's of muscle. Hmm, interesting. "Do I pass the audition?" He says.

"I think so." I say, smiling slightly. Cue a "watch it" look from Blade, but I don't care. We don't have much choice- it's Nightstalkers or trying to run a vampire-killing operation from a cardboard box.

That's a dismal situation whichever way you look at it.

Later on neither Blade nor I is in a good mood. I've had a glancing look at my reflection in some glass and I look manky. The roots on my purple streaks are showing through and there are huge bags under my eyes. King slips a disk into a computer.

"You know those girls that just scream trouble, but somehow you end up getting their number? Well, that's all I ever hook up with. But THIS Betty…" Danica Talos dodges a bullet on the screen with incredible speed. "She blew them all away. Her name's Danica Talos."

"Whore." I hiss. King nods.

"You guys met her earlier. And unlike regular vampires, her vampire teeth are located in her vagina." Blade and I stare at him. "Moving on. That's her brother, Asher, and that walking diaper stain is Jarko Grimwood." King points out a thin, plain man and the huge suckhead who had grabbed me earlier.

"Remind me to give Grimwood an ass-kicking later." I say.

"Why?" asks Blade.

"He kinda beat me up a little." I smile grimly. Blade's fist clenches a bit. I turn to King. "Talos is pretty much Queen Slut, then."

"Oh, yeah. And I should know- I picked her up in a bar and then spent five years playing hide-and-go-suck as her little vampire cabana boy." King grimaces. "Abby found me, Summerfield treated me with the cure and now I kill them. And that's basically turning a frown upside-down."

"Why are we here though? Surely you can take down that hellbitch."

"You would think that, but now little miss hellbitch has got something big in her ranks." King tells me.

"We need to pool our resources, Blade. He's come back." Abby says, arms crossed. King passes a battered comic to Blade.

"The Revenge Of Dracula?" I snort.

"You gotta be kidding me." Blade scoffs.

"It's true. He's real." King says seriously. I shake my head.

"It's just a myth." I murmur.

"One that you know?" Blade raises an eyebrow.

"I suppose. For the first year I was with Alec…" A small knot appears at the back of my throat and I avoid eye contact with anyone. "He made me study vampire myths, legends, history. One main one was of the first vampire. Worshipped as Dagon by the Babylonians, he was supposedly born in ancient Samaria. He was the first. The patriarch, the founder, the father of Humanus Nocturne."

"Nowadays they call him Drake. Look through history and he's there, behind the scenes, cutting a bloody path through the ages and then suddenly…" King snaps his fingers. "He up and disappeared. Some say he had retreated from a world he had become disgusted with. And then we heard a rumour- the vampires were searching for him. According to our information they found him in Iraq about six months ago. And he was pissed."

"So why wake up Drake now? Asked Blade. His manners seem to be improving the more the Nightstalkers prove themselves to have a good handle on this.

"That's what we're trying to work out." Abby sighs, frowning.

"When I was under the fang there used to be talk about some kind of vampire 'Final Solution'. But I could never figure out why they'd want to destroy their food source. I mean it doesn't make sense, right? They've always had plans for the human race and it seems likely that whatever they're planning, Drake's return is a part of it." King says. "Let's face it, Blade, Mute. We're fighting a losing battle. So we kill a few hundred of them a year. Big deal. There are thousands of them out there, maybe tens of thousands. We need a new tactic."

"Like what?" I ask. By her computer, Summerfield smiles slightly.

"A biological weapon, maybe?" She says. She runs a hand over a Braille keyboard. "For you sighted people…" A number of images pop up. "Here's a little show-and-tell. For the last year I've been working with synthesized DNA in order to create an artificial virus targeted specifically at vampires. We're calling it Daystar."

"Think about it. We could wipe them out in one single move." King says smugly. I smile but my stomach is in knots. A disease? To wipe out vampires?

"So, what's been holding you back?" Blade demands. Summerfield sighs, looking tired.

"We've tried it on a number of captive subjects. We've got the disease vector worked out fine, as it's easily transmittable. But the lethality in vampires is still spotty." She explains.

"We need a better strand of DNA to work with. We need Drake's blood." Abby says.

Because Dracula's the progenitor of the vampire race, his DNA is still pure. It hasn't been diluted by a hundred generations of selective mutation. We get his blood, we can boost Daystar's viral efficacy to a hundred percent." Summerfield says, her hand on Zoey's head as the little girl clumsily colours in a picture. Damn, that woman has a brain.

"All the vampires go bye-bye." King grins. "So. Can I just go right ahead and sign you both up for one of our secret Nightstalker decoder rings?"


	4. Chapter 4

I want- need, desperately- to call the Cullens.

Panicked thoughts clatter through my mind. Will Daystar affect "higher" vampires as well as Humanus Nocturne? I need Carlisle to tell me one way or the other, because if so I can't let the Nightstalkers or Blade do this.

I'm nervous and jittery as we make our way to the Nightstalker's weapon room. Blade looks at me funny but I know he doesn't suspect a thing. He trusts me. He thinks I spent the year-and-a-bit being a good little girl killing suckheads.

Hedges, the techie who looks like the kind of guy jocks beat up in high school, looks up and clocks us.

"Oh. Holy shit." He murmurs. "Well… gentlemen and hotties…" He picks up a nearby pistol. Mmm, high tech! "We've got a wide assortment of ass-kickery for your viewing pleasure today. Electronic pistol. Comes with a built-in fingerprint security system. Fires a three-shot burst in 1/500th of a second." King passes a silver bullet to Blade. He inspects it. I peer over his shoulder. Mmm, more high tech!

"Explosive rounds." Blade announces.

"With a concentrated burst of UV light rather than your average silver hollow points. We call 'em Sundogs. Hedges- supersize me, sweetheart." Hedges passes King a heavy-duty four-barrel shotgun.

"Christ on a bike." I mutter.

"A modified version of the Army's Objective Individual Combat Weapon. Pick your poison -- stakes, sun dogs… basically whatever gets you hard, this puppy will pump out. Of course, it doesn't have the range of a sword…" King smirks. Hedges starts panicking like a chubby budgie when he sees Blade's face. He quickly passes Abigail a hand-held arc with a powerful UV laser streaming between the two points. Abby smiles.

"This baby's half as hot as the sun, it can cut through vampires like a knife through butter. It was developed from the Tripwire laser you came up with, Mute." I grin at her.

"We're still trying to sort the facts from the bullshit with Dracula. Turning into mist… kinda doubt it. But general shape-shifting? Maybe." King cuts in.

"Not into a bat or a wolf or anything like that. But another human, someone with the same approximate body mass -- given enough practice it might be possible… because he wouldn't have a traditional skeletal structure. Probably something more like a snake, with thousands of tiny bones…" Hedges began. King stops him.

"I have a question about that Hedges. Have you… EVER… been laid?"

Later we stride towards a sleek cruiser. It's much better than the beat-up piece of crap we rolled in yesterday.

"Time to apply some pressure. The weak link in the vampire chain of command has always been their familiars. Vampires can't go out in the day, so they get humans to do their dirty work. Blood-running, safe house maintenance, whatever. We bleed the wannabes, they'll lead us to the real thing." Blade announces. Dex chucks King the keys and we all pile in. the "men" (I say that loosely) in the front, Abby and I in the back while she fiddles with a laptop and an Ipod. Blade watches her.

"Oh, she's making playlists." King says. "Likes to listen to MP3s when she hunts. Her own internal soundtrack, you know? Dark-core, trip hop, whatever kids these days are listening to. I'm more of a David Hasselhoff fan, you know?" Blade and I stare at him, weirded out. He decides the best thing to do is shut up and drive.

The next four hours is absolute hell. Beating the shit out of vamps, I can deal with. But humans? No. Not even familiars. They're just scared people that think they'll get a better life from doing donkeywork for Suckheads. Thing is, the others seem to enjoy it. They don't understand normal humans much.

So when Blade pushes a guy of a tall building and catches the rope tied around his ankle just before he hits the ground below, I get a little uncomfortable.

"Blade…" I wince, listening to the guy whimper.

"What, Mute?" He snaps as he hauls the rope up.

"This is wrong. If you're gonna drop him, drop him."

"Oh, Jesus, please…" The guy's pitiful face comes closer.

"You know, eventually your head is gonna pop off." Blade grins.

"Oh god, please, no!" The guy yells, wriggling on the rope like a worm.

"Who's your handler?"

"I don't know my fuckin' handler, I swear!"

Suddenly a phone starts ringing. Blade makes a big show of looking around before looking back at the guy.

"Oh, it's you! I'll take that." Blade smiles. He takes the phone and answers.

"Hello? This is doctor Vance. You paged me." A familiar voice on the other end speaks. No pun intended.

"It's for you." Blade passes the phone back to the guy.

"Hello? AHHHHH!" He screams as Blade turns away, letting go of the rope. I join Abby and King by his side as we walk away from the edge.

"You know, you might want to think about settling down with someone. You know, getting in touch with the inner child and all that? Also, just a thought, but you might want to consider blinking once in a while." King gabbles to Blade. Blade and Abby stare at him. "I'm sorry. I had a lot of sugar today."

If it weren't for his fighting prowess I would worry that he's seriously retarded.

Vance Institute is a flashy building, shiny and modern. That just makes it all the more fun to break in to.

I say "break in", it's more "punching our way in". Security guard after security guard is felled like trees.

"Sit!" Abby snarls at a blonde receptionist. We kick the doors open to see Vance standing behind his desk. "Alright, Vance, what the hell do you know?" Abby demanded.

"Remember us? It's payback time." Blade grinned coldly. Suddenly a scent wafted over me as Abby and King surrounded Vance.

Vampire. I ran forward to King's side and saw the body of Vance lying in a pool of blood.

"It's him!" King yelled. "Abby, it's Drake!"

Ducking a bullet shot by Blade Vance's features melted into those of a stocky man with a close-shaved head. He roared and shoved the heavy desk towards Blade, who leaps over it. I take a flying kick aimed at his head but he swats me aside, catching my foot and throwing me into a wall. My wrist makes a familiar snapping sound. Crap!

Drake grabs King and takes a stake from his belt. The silver glints and suddenly King looks small and breakable in the arms of this monster.

"Blade!" I yell, imploring him to stop this.

"Yes, Blade- show me what you're made of!" Drake snarls, a demented look on his face as he viciously sticks the stake into King's ribs. I snarl and jump up but he's already shoved King at me and leapt from the window. Blade bounds after him.

With my good hand I gently lower King to the floor. The stake sticks out obscenely.

"Dude, you look like Madonna." I grin, but for once King is not in a joking mood.

"Did you see that guy?! We're gonna lose, man. We're gonna… FUCK!" He yells as Abby tugs the stake from his wound. " We're gonna fucking lose!" Abby produces a weird-looking aerosol with a long tube. "Woah, what is that?" King eyes it nervously.

"It's an elastic protein, it'll stop the haemorrhaging." Abby says.

"Is it gonna hurt?" King asks, eyes wide and pathetic.

"It's gonna sting…" Abby begins, but I just grab it and stick it in, pulling the handle as the toothpaste-like mixture fills the wound. King yells like a banshee.

"What do you think you're doing?" Abby says crossly.

"Best to just catch 'em by surprise." I smile, watching King writhe and eventually gasp like a fish as the pain subsides.

"I hate you." King whimpers.

"Who me? You must be delirious." I grin.

Later the sky is turning a bruised purple as the sun sets. I check nobody's around then prop myself up on the wall, loosening out my newly-healed wrist a little. I'm within sight of the base but out of earshot. Perfect. I put the phone Edward gave me to my ear.

Dial tone. Dial tone. Then "Hello, Mute!"

"Alice! Missing me?"

"Don't joke. You know we are."

"Is Seth…"

"Seth is alright. He's not come out of his wolf form for days. But he's eating. That's more than we expected." Alice says. It's good to hear her voice.

"And everyone else?"

"Good. Well, Scud is a mopey, moaning pain in the butt but you know that anyway. I couldn't see the reason why you've called but I know it's important."

"These people Blade and I are working with…" And I tell her quickly what's been happening, especially about Daystar.

"So, it's an respiratory-circulatory disease."

"Yes."

"Mute?"

"What? Please, Alice, I need to know if-"

"Mute, we don't have a heartbeat, remember? And we breathe only for scent." Alice is close to laughing. Well, great. I feel like a royal idiot. But a relieved royal idiot. I just need to ask her one more thing.

"Alice… in the chamber of the Volturi, why did you change Scud?" I ask quietly.

"I'm not sure. I just sensed that your future without Scud was going to be a short-lived one." She says.

"You were right. And thank you. Give everyone my-" I begin, but Alice interrupts.

"Mute, hang up. Now." She says urgently.

"Wha-?" I say, a little hurt, but the line is already dead. Suddenly I feel a prickling at the back of my neck and I can hear a steady heartbeat. Someone's watching.

I spin round and Blade is standing two metres behind me.


	5. Chapter 5

"I expected it from Scud. At one point I even suspected Whistler. But you. Never. I never thought in a million years that you'd do this to me. Even when Summerfield was bugging that damn phone I felt like shit for it. And now it looks like the Nightstalkers aren't so stupid after all- they can sniff out traitors." Blade speaks in a low monotone. My skin prickles all over.

"Blade, it's not what you think. The Cullens-"

"Oh, so it's gone from 'scum' 'suckheads' and 'dirt' to family names, has it?" he asks quietly.

"Blade, they're not like humanus nocturne. They're not even the same species- please, you've got to believe me. Just listen-" I plead.

"_I don't want to listen."_ He growls. "We have a chance to wipe out the whole damn vampire race and you're not getting in the way. Get out of here."

"No! Blade, I'm speaking the truth. The Cullens don't feed on humans! They're entirely different! They won't even be affected be Daystar. Just please listen, I'm begging… don't you fucking walk away from me!" Suddenly I'm furious. I leap at his unprotected back. He spins round and whacks me aside. I get up and grab his coat, yelling in his face. "Jesus, you conceited asshole! Listen! I haven't betrayed you in the slightest- I thought you knew that I'd rather die! Even before we met I was trained to stand beside you in this war, don't you dare ever call me a traitor!" He pushes me off and points a gun at me. I walk forward and hold my hoodie open. "Pull the fucking trigger then. If you truly think that I've done it, pull the trigger." I look deep into his eyes behind his dark glasses. Neither of us moves. "I thought we were family." I whisper.

"So did I. Until you started keeping things from me." Blade said, but the force has gone out of his words. He lowers the gun.

"It was necessary. The Cullens are my family now too, Blade. Just please listen to what I've got to say." Abby and Hedges run out to us. They won't meet my eyes.

"False alarm. But keep her under observation." He turns to me. "I'll deal with you later." Blade says coldly. I wince.

Back inside the base Blade and Abby leave to investigate what looks like some sort of vampire secret lab. I don't really pay attention, to be honest. An hour after they've left I pass Dex and Hedges playing basketball, Summerfield telling Zoey a story and finally King in his little sickbed.

"Hey, where are you going?" He asks. I explode.

"I'm not grounded, King! I'm going out for a damn fag!"

"A what?" He asks. I slap my head. Damn, British slang. Not in King's vocabulary.

"A cigarette, dumbass."

"You smoke?"

"I do now. And I'm not going to run off to my evil vampire masters, ok?" I hiss. He shakes his head.

"I know you're not." He says softly. "I believe you. We all do, really." I walk over to him and hug him carefully.

"Thank you." I say in his ear. When I first met King I thought he was a cocky little wanker. Well, he is. But he's alright. Sometimes. I ruffle his hair and grab a nearby packet of cigarettes. Dex's, probably, but oh, well.

First breath in and I end up chucking the cigarette into the water in disgust. It's just gross. Instead I content myself by just looking over the dirty water at the moon reflected in it. Until I hear someone walking towards me. Until I smell vampire.

I jump over the railing and drop down so I'm hanging over the edge of the walkway, unseen to the man walking close by. What I can see sets my heart racing.

It's Whistler. But it's not Whistler. It's Drake, and boy, does he stink. He reeks of human blood and the sickly-sweet scent of vampire. It sets my hair on end. He walks towards the boat.

"Shit!" I mutter, pulling myself up. He stops. "Hey, Drake. Remember me?" He spins around and snarls. "You're wearing the skin of a very good man. I'm gonna have to tear it off you." I hiss, drawing my sword and charging. He lashes out with a fist but I duck and give him the smallest of cuts across his stomach, chest and shoulder. I fight like this because it enrages my enemy, makes them wild with anger, which eventually makes them careless. Or if they're an ordinary vamp, well, I just live up to my old Prague nickname of "the Fisherman" and give them a fucking good gutting.

Drake definitely is not an ordinary vampire. Each slash is healed instantly and one punch to the face breaks my nose and sends my sprawling. I lie on my back and stare up at the sky, my vision broken up in reds and purples. Ow.

I don't see what happens next, but there's a lot of impact and all of a sudden I'm plunged into darkness.

The first thing I know is that I'm swinging from side to side a little. I open my eyes and at first I think that Danica Talos is walking on the ceiling.

Nope. I am. In a sense anyway- I'm trussed up like a goddamn turkey. Fab. I reach a hand to my nose and reset the broken cartilage. The slight cracking sound brings Talos's attention. She looks me straight in the face and grins.

"You've failed, freak. King and the little girl are ours and the rest of the Nightstalkers are dead." She gives a hollow laugh.

"God, you psycho." I snarl. Asher, her brother comes over and gets right up in my face. "Where's King and Zoey?" I demand.

"On death row, sweetheart." He says. "Just like you, and pretty soon the Daywalker and that little slut." Grimwood guffaws in the background. I hack and spit in Asher's face.

"All of them are worth fifty of you each!" I yell. The vampires howl with laughter as Asher snarls. Suddenly something slices through the rope and I land head-first on the floor. I get up and raise my fists but a shock ripples through my body and I'm down again. I raise a hand to my neck.

Oh, no.

"Careful, angel, you don't want to get another shock, do you?" Asher smiles fiercely, holding up a small remote control. They've put a shock collar on me. Grimwood handcuffs me behind my back and Talos bends down to face me. I take a quick look around the small, empty room then look her straight in the eyes. She fiddles with the dead animal around her neck. Ew. I do believe she thinks herself sexy.

"We'll be back to play later. We're off to visit Hannibal King." She grins at me.

"Every mark made on him I'll double on your disgusting hide." I hiss. She laughs.

"Like to see you try. Daywalker's whore." She pats my cheek and then they're gone, and I'm alone. I lean against one of the walls and close my eyes.

How many more people are going to be torn from my side before I'm all alone? I make a vow. The people I have left- the Cullens, the Quiletes, Scud, Abby, King, Zoey, Blade- I'm going to protect them with my life from now on. I won't lose another life.

I'd rather die.


	6. Chapter 6

Time drags itself out when you're stuck in a little room wearing handcuffs and a shock collar. You start to think about things. Bad things. Things that are in the past and should stay there.

Like I said before, reminiscing is bad for blood pressure.

I start to think about stupid stuff. Like, the first foster family I was dumped on by the authorities and the way the couple tried continually to get me to call them mummy and daddy. The way Scud isn't Scud anymore, he's just an empty shell of the guy he used to be before Alice bit him. Why Blade didn't tell me Scud was still alive- or at least, why he didn't finish him off. And what I'm going to do when I keep on living while the mortals in my life wither and die. That is, if we survive this.

In the face of death and destruction of the human race I'm turning into a right emo kid.

The vampires have just left after another "Lets have fun with the hybrid kid" session. I've had worse, but now I'm worrying about King and Zoey, praying they're going to get out of this even if I don't.

The door swings open slowly and Drake steps in and sits in front of me on a plastic chair.

"Piss off." I sigh. He settles himself and leans forward.

"You remain loyal to Blade, even as they torture you." He says questioningly.

"I've had worse." I say truthfully. "And besides, it's in my blood to be loyal. I'm a little toy soldier, remember?" I mutter.

"But it goes deeper than that. You are a warrior and yet you keep deep bonds. Unneccesary hindrance for one such as yourself."

"I would empty all my blood for the people I defend. An injury to them is an injury to me." I say pointedly.

"You aim to kill me if I harm Blade." He says.

"Blade will kill you anyway." I snort. "You know that he will."

"Perhaps. It is an even match. But I have come to ask you to stand by my side. An honourable warrior like yourself need not be wasted." He says, his strange eyes boring into mine. Yawn. Heard it all before.

"You knew the answer to that question already, didn't you?" I say bitterly. There's a pause.

"Yes." He says, a little regretfully.

"Well then. Just so we understand each other- piss off." There's more pause. Jeez. He might be the all-powerful vampire but he can't do much to string two words together.

"You're not afraid of me." He says, cocking his head on one side.

"Listen, darlin', I've seen things bigger and spunkier than you'll ever be. No, I ain't afraid." I say defiantly.

"It is insanity to not be afraid of me." He murmurs darkly. I blow a raspberry. He backhands me across the face and I have the good sense to stay down on my side.

"You fear for others. You should. The Daywalker is mine… while you will fall before another."

"Bite me!" I snarl. "Hey… what do you mean, I'll 'fall before another?'" I demand, but he's already gone, the heavy door closing behind him. I shrug and curl up, waiting for someone to kill me or bust me out. It's one or the other now.

I've almost fallen asleep when the door swings open and Blade stands in the doorway.

"Blade!" I say, jumping up, agonizingly pleased to see him. He silently slices through my bonds and the shock collar's soon on the floor and ground under my heel. He passes me my sword and bends closer.

"Mute, if we're successful and we activate Daystar, there's a chance it could kill us too. I'm at more risk than you, but you've got to get out of here." He says urgently. I laugh in his face and shake my head.

"No. It's not happening Blade. We're family and family stick together." I notice he's bleeding from a small cut on his hand. I draw my sword.

"What are you doing?" He demands. I ignore him and make a similar cut. Blood wells to the surface. I take Blade's hand and press our palms together.

"We're in it together, Blade. If we die today, we go down as one." A drop of blood falls to the floor. It splashes where it falls. I glare at Blade, daring him to resist. He gives me the smallest of nods.

A good old-fashioned punch-up follows. Wave after wave of badly-dressed vampires are sliced, beheaded and of course, gutted. I split from Blade's side and jump down from railings onto the polished floor below. I kick a snarling male vampire in the teeth and swiftly liberate him from his insides. He crumples into ash and I run forward, looking for Abby or King, when a huge door opens near me. The stench of dead bodies wafts out- what is this, Drake's snackbox?

Blade seems to be taking the fight with him as he moves through the building. I decide to look inside. It's pitch black but that's not a problem. My eyes aren't the colour of a cat's for nothing. In the gloom I can see the bodies littering the floor in a state of near-decomposition. I can also see a cloaked figure. It pulls back it's hood and I gasp in horror as the sight and smell of "Higher" vampire hits me.

Caius stands before me, a leer on his face.

"We meet again, freak." He croons. I dive for the door and he runs after me. I'm fast but he's faster. With a "voom" sound the lights throughout the building die. Up on a platform I see Blade locked in combat with Drake. I leap up, reaching for the platform below the fight, but an ice-cold, iron-strong hand wraps round my ankle and pulls me from the railing. I fly through the air before hitting the floor and skidding several metres.

"Mute!" Yells Blade. Drake takes advantage of Blade's momentary lapse in concentration and kicks him roughly in the chest. I try to get up and help him but Caius reaches down and grabs my throat, hauling me up off my feet. I can't breathe, I can't breathe, I can't breathe…

Instinctively, quick as a flash, I draw my sword and lash out. He drops me and I slice through thin air as he ducks out of the way, insanely fast. He draws his own sword; an old-fashioned thing straight out of a Lord OF The Rings movie, except the whole thing is black. It gleams menacingly like an ebony snake as he darts in and out, slashing and twisting. I only just manage to parry as the blade whistles all around me. Then a thought strikes me. Caius won't ever tire, while I already feel my muscles weaken…

I need to finish this fight NOW. Before it's too late.

In a lucky strike I knock Caius's sword from his stony grip. He snarls and charges me, fists raised instead. I cleave into his arms, not severing them but making slices deep enough to make him scream in pain. Sweat beads my forehead.

"Always the same." He roars, taking swipe after swipe. "Fighting against those who will crush you and the ones you claim to protect!" a fist swings towards my head. I avoid the full force but a glancing blow sends me spinning across the floor. Ribs crack and I gasp in pain. A good deal, I think." Caius says, mockingly musing. "I reveal the whereabouts of the Daywalker and his pathetic old man to Talos's puppets, and in return I get to kill you." He kicks my sword away from me and picks me up, pinning my arms by my sides. My eyes open wide in shock then narrow in fury as Whistler's face flashes across my mind. Somewhere there is a boom, like something heavy has hit the floor with great force. Tremors shake the marble beneath my feet.

It was Caius. Caius is the reason that Blade and I now both wander the world as orphans. My vision turns a sharp, bloody red. As Caius grabs my head, ready to snap my neck, I let loose a yell of hate. I slip from his grasp and grab his sword, swinging round. He dodges the sword just in time to avoid being split in two at the waist. There's a roar of pain and both of us turn our heads towards the noise. It's Drake, in his grotesque true form, howling in pain as the arrow containing Daystar releases the disease into his bloodstream. He falls to the ground, lying in a huge crater. As if hit by an invisible force, one by one the vampires around us drop like flies. Caius snarls.

"This isn't over." A stream of black cloak, he bounds away, leaving me alone.

I growl, watching after him, my fists clenched. No, it's not over. It's far from over.

I run over to where Blade is lying.

"Blade?" I ask carefully, standing over him. No answer. I bend down by his side and grab his shoulders. "Blade!" a door opens. I look behind me as Abby and King run over. "Help him!" I yell. Panic sweeps through me like fever as I watch Abby bend down by Blade's side. I grab my hair in handfuls as I watch her bending over him. My mentor. My best friend.

My brother.


	7. Chapter 7

_It is six hours since Daystar was activated._

_Blade lies on the bed, the machine beside him beeping softly. As pinpricks of consciousness filter through the darkness the beeping picks up a notch. _

_It is twenty hours since Blade took the serum which binds his vampire instincts._

_Before the first conscious thought can cross his mind, a delicious, unbelievably irresistible scent fills his head. The sound and feel of a pulse vibrates through the air._

"_Blade?" a soft voice sounds, close. His arm shoots out and grabs the neck of his prey, the soft skin and pulsing vein breaking as he bites down. Thick, sweet blood gushes into his mouth. "Blade! Stop!" Mute yells. _

_Suddenly his eyes are free of the haze of bloodlust. He struggles to tear free of the flow of blood but he can't. All the while Mute's struggles become weaker and weaker..._

I see King before Blade does. He slams into Blade's side. Without the support I fall to the floor, weak and dizzy.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, you monster? King screams at Blade, who stares at me, shock plain on his face. He's covered in blood. I look down and choke back a cry as I see the vivid red stain down the front of my top. My vision starts to swim. I can feel my body desperately trying to repair itself. It's no good. I see King shouting something. I see him mouthing my name. I can't hear anything over the rushing in my ears. My whole body convulses. Everything goes black as night.

I know no more.


End file.
